Top 10 rules for live chat customer support

Live chat is a great tool for engaging with customers. 42% of users prefer using it to contact support teams. Chat widget on a website helps to increase sales, leads to better customer satisfaction and reduces the cost of organizing support services.This all works if it’s used by properly trained and highly qualified customer support agents who follow proper rules of communication. We would like to share top 10 principles that will help your support team increase their performance and deliver amazing support in a live chat.

Rule #1. Don’t keep your customers waiting. If they see there are operators online, they expect immediate reaction. 79% of users prefer live chat because they can get immediate answers to their questions. So don’t fail your customers’ expectations. To ensure prompt reaction to new live chat messages, we have implemented sound notifications in Deskun.

Rule #2. Keep an eye on spelling. Follow spelling and punctuation rules, try to avoid jargon and professional terminology, because it can confuse your client. Never write in CAPITALs, don’t use shortened words like “lol”, “btw”, “asap” and other Internet slang. Make sure your support agents are properly trained before they start working with live chat conversations.

Rule #3. Introduce yourself. It’s considered good manners. When you say “Hi” and introduce yourself with your real name, it gives your customer the feeling of communicating with a real person as opposed to a robot.

Rule #4. Be friendly and polite. There’s nothing worse than a conversation with a dull support agent who uses only template responses. A friendly and cheerful mood will help you win the client's heart. And it’s the best “weapon” against angry and disappointed customers. The statistics claim that 75% users expect support agents to be friendly with them.

Rule #5. Always be honest. Never lie to your customers. If the client's’ problem cannot be resolved right away, admit it and tell the truth. Inform them about the time it could take to resolve the difficulty. If you are responsible for the issue they are having, take the blame. If you make any promises, be sure to fulfill them.

Rule #6. Keep a positive attitude. Even if you are bearing bad news and everything went wrong. Try to build your sentences in a way to prevent panic and negative reaction from your client. Admit that there is a problem, but give the information in a positive manner. Instead of “everything is broken and we have lost your secure data” try “We are working on this issue at the moment and hopefully we will restore your data in up to 5 hours”. Avoid the words “we don’t”, “we can’t”, “we won’t”.

Rule #7. Stay on the subject. While it’s important to be friendly and polite, it’s also crucial to remember the ultimate objective of the conversation – to resolve the client’s issue. When talking to a sociable person, there’s always a temptation to support the dialogue, move away from the topic, or tell a funny joke. Try to overcome it. By moving away from the topic you waste your time, while it takes only 42 seconds (on average) to resolve the initial customer issue.

Rule #8. Be empathetic and caring. We all know that there are lots of angry and disappointed customers. Instead of arguing with them, try to understand their problems and sympathize with them. Empathy is the magic pill against frustration. Give sincere apologies, let your customer know that you understand their issues and struggles. It was observed that empathetic support increases customer satisfaction ninefold.

Rule #9. Don’t abandon the conversation. It’s a common situation when the customer doesn’t reply to your messages right away. There might be various reasons for this; such as important phone call, urgent task or something else. Make sure that your client is online. Politely ask them about that several times with an interval of 1-2 minutes. If you don’t get a response, you are within your right to close the conversation.

Rule #10. End conversations on a positive note. Don’t finish the conversation immediately after the problem is resolved. Ask whether your client has other questions or suggestions. Thank them for their time; it’s really important. When saying goodbye /parting, don’t forget to wish them a good day.

Of course this list is incomplete, but following these rules will definitely increase the performance of your support team. Live chat from Deskun allows you to customize its appearance. Make it proactive by setting up automated initialisation and greetings. There are handy message templates for any immediate reactions to customer requests. Moreover, you can share files and images with your clients. Here is how to set up a live chat widget with Deskun.